2008 Woodie Awards
Finding peace through sand
Charlotte Jobrack
Issue date: 2/23/07 Section: Arts & Entertainment
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This wheel is a 2,500-year-old gift from Buddha created in sand. Samten has since become notorious for his sand paintings. This "mandala man," as he laughs and says he is often called, has even appeared with his mandala in the Martin Scorsese film "Kundun." When asked about his transition to U.S. culture and its non-Buddhist focus on attachments, and numb, clouded minds, he says that he just guards himself because that is really all you can do. Rather than try to get rid of all those bad temptations, desires, etc. one must make sure that he or she resists those negatives.
The Four Noble Truths help the individual to realize his or her true nature, to lessen one's suffering, and lead towards enlightenment. They are 1) Life is suffering. 2) Suffering has a cause. 3) There is an end to the cause of suffering. 4) This acknowledgement and resolve are realized by following the Eightfold Path: Right Views, Right Thinking, Right Speech, Right Conduct, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Recollection, and Right Meditation.
This is also seen in the Wheel of Life mandala, which contains the three suffering-causing poisons of anger, greed, and ignorance, which are represented as the snake, the rooster and the boar at the very center of the wheel. Each sand figure rests atop a background of blue, symbolizing the calm, clear nature and magic of the pure human mind. The mandala shows the things in our lives which create suffering, and a clouded mind. The way to cure this, Samten says, is to clear your mind. While he works on his painting he says he has "no thoughts," because he cannot produce the delicate design with distractions floating around in his head. The clouded mind leads to suffering, and anger, he says, which destroys the peace, and then it takes lifetimes to get rid of it.
While the design remains basically the same each time it is created, giving the illusion of permanence, at the same time the viewer is continually reminded of the impermanence of life in general, symbolized by the piles of colored sand that have come together to make an impressive piece of momentary art. Samten says that this is the best mandala to do to get some meaning out of because it is completely dedicated to peace. Sometimes referred to as 'Enlightenment Art,' the mandala is meant to not only bless each individual who looks upon it, but also the environment around it. This was definitely the case with Samten's visit this past week, which filled the campus with an immensely positive energy through daily additions to the Wheel of Life, a Samten-led meditation in the art museum, a panel discussion on Tibetan Buddhism, and finally the ceremonial dismantling of the sand painting, which gave the Colby community the opportunity to take some of the blessed artwork with them.
Each event began with a chant, and during the meditation and dismantling Samten invited those in attendance to join in, causing the feeling of one voice that connected each person's sound vibrations with the rest of the room. The chants the audience participated in were of compassion which Samten says that is one of the most important things. He wants to work toward peace instead of contributing to the suffering in the world because "we need peace the most." In the panel discussion he said that he would rather talk one on one because he said he did not really know what he wanted to talk about besides that he's glad to be here. He says "in a way we all have a history to footprint on this planet," so he works toward a peaceful journey with no regrets, and tries every day to live peacefully as much as he can. "If something is not right be more involved," he says, "contribute something better to society."
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